The point remains that our talent level in 2009 falls off a cliff if any of our first team OL or DL goes down. The angsting over covering Pace’s spot is a perfect example. Likewise, the Jets replace Jenkins with a revolving door with an ‘enter’ sign. The OL is also as thin.

The LBs have some depth, but how much of the air comes out of the balloon if Scott goes down for any length of time?

The QB fight is winding down at this point, and it is half the concern at the moment as is the development of the Two’s and Three’s on either lines and at LB.

Here’s a request for those of you who are going to Cortland or the Jets Facility later this week and taking photos, tweeting, commenting, etc. — along with the sexy QB, WR and punter races, might you cast an eye to the backup guys who normally stay incognito, as Bent pointed out a while ago. They may prove to be the most important part of this team’s makeup by the time this season is over and done with.

It’d be nice to follow their development (or lack of same) along the way.

Ellis was suspended from last year (MANGINI’S WATCH).

I think the DL age is more of a long-term issue because guys like Jenkins are way too scarce and would take a high draft pick to obtain, as would a good replacement for Ellis…thank heavens for free agency!

The OL, IMO, is the easiest to bolster. RT is an easy position to fill and if the Jets decided to draft the no. 1 LG prospect, whoever that is, they probably could do that in the late first round (for example, Steve Hutchinson was the 17th pick and Faneca was the 26th). While I’m not a big fan of drafting OL in the first round, OG is as safe a first round pick as you can get, with 4 of the 6 OGs drafted in the first round from 2000-2007 making the Pro Bowl and the two that haven’t (Ben Grubbs and Kendall Simmons) are good players.

I think Greene can replace Jones, but RB is the easiest offensive skill position to draft and plenty of 2nd, 3rd or later round RBs have been good recently…the list is literally too long to mention. And, good RBs hit free agency every year.

Richardson is a great FB and let’s hope that Caulcrick can replace him, but FB is another easy position to fill…decent FBs hit the FA market all the time and decent ones can even be picked up as UDFAs.

So, if I were Rex, next 1st round I would put DL as the first priority, but if the best DL candidates are gone, draft an LG. Later in the draft, pick up a mammoth RT and from now through next season (assuming Caulcrick doesn’t pan out), look for a FB, esp. on the waiver wire.

I like Sweed, but IMO he has the same problem as Clowney…drops. Clowney did lead the AFC in receiving yards last pre-season, so I just think Clowney’s a little ahead in the maturation process, but I want to see how Clowney plays against starting CBs. Sweed did show that he can get open deep in the NFL (even if he drops the pass) and he has good size. Clowney still hasn’t shown that he can get open deep (because he had so few plays last regular season), but I think Clowney has enough speed to do so. All in all, I’d take Sweed over Clowney for the 2010 season, but I think Clowney can out-perform Sweed in 2009. I guess that’s a long way of saying that I wasn’t dissing Sweed as much as praising Clowney, who I think has the tools to be a legit NFL deep threat.

- The whole defensive line (arguably Devito could fill one spot and then maybe someone else will emerge)
- Faneca and Woody (again maybe some of the young guys, such as Turner could step in)
- Jones (arguably this has already been addressed with Greene)
- Richardson (hopefully Caulcrick can fill this spot)

That’s at most 7 and maybe as few as 2 or 3. Everyone else has a good few years left in them. If this team is good enough to contend, I think they should be able to fill all those needs over the next year or two. If this year proves that the team still has other needs (if none of the WRs step up, for example), then staying in contention might be tougher, but “they have to win now” seems a bit of an overreaction.

If that was their sole rationale behind the Sanchez move (which I doubt), then that wasn’t particularly smart. It might still pay off though, anyway.